The Work Goes On: An Oral History of Industrial Relations and Labor Economics with Princeton’s Orley Ashenfelter

Truman Bewley, the Alfred C. Cowles Professor Emeritus of Economics at Yale University, discusses his academic background, his work on economic theory and shift to empirical economics, and his studies on wage rigidity and price setting of commodities and differentiated products that involved hundreds of interviews with employers and workers over many years. Read a transcript of the podcast here: h...

Andrew Zimbalist, the Robert A. Woods Professor Emeritus of Economics, emeritus at Smith College, discusses his academic background, the economics of sports, especially baseball, his thoughts on the monopsony power of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and how college sports might be reorganized to prioritize the education and well-being of student athletes. Read a transcript of the podcast...

John Kennan, Juli Plant Grainger Distinguished Chair in Economics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, discusses his early years in Dublin, Ireland, his academic background, and his research on the economic effects and political challenges of migration, especially the impact of open borders on existing workers’ wages. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/...

V. Joseph Hotz, Research Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago and Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Economics and Public Policy Emeritus at Duke University, discusses his research on life cycle models of labor supply and fertility, the challenges of balancing data disclosure risk with data usability, and the child tax credit’s impact on child pove...

Solomon Polachek, Distinguished Professor of Economics at Binghamton University, State University of New York, discusses his academic career, his teaching awards, his past and ongoing research on the gender wage gap, and his role as Dean of Harpur College at Binghamton University. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2026-02/049_Polachek_transcrip...

John Abowd, Edmund Ezra Day Professor Emeritus of Economics, Statistics, and Data Science at Cornell University, reflects on his academic career, his research on worker and firm effects on wages, employing a model that became known as the “AKM model,” and his U.S. Census Bureau tenure, focusing on 2020 Census controversies and the implications of adding a citizenship question. Read a transcript of...

John Bound, George E. Johnson Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Economics, emeritus at the University of Michigan, discusses his varied academic career, the mentors who played significant roles in his life, and his pioneering research on the impacts of health and disability payments on the labor market. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/...

Richard Murnane, Thompson Research Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, discusses his early education, his studies on the relationship between a quality education and upward mobility, and his thoughts for equipping children to thrive in a changing economy. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.prin...

Eric Hanushek, Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, discusses his significant contributions to educational policy, his work on the economic returns to educational quality, the impact of No Child Left Behind, and how teacher effectiveness is best measured by student outcomes. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/def...

Judy Gueron, President Emerita at Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC), discusses her education at Radcliffe and Harvard, her pioneering work utilizing randomized field trials at the MDRC, her research on welfare reform, and the challenges of pursuing a career in economics as a woman. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2025-10/044-...

Morris Kleiner, professor and AFL-CIO Chair in Labor Policy at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, discusses his academic background, his research on state-to-state labor migration and occupational licensing, and his impact on public policy. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2025-09/043-TWGO-Kleiner_transcript....

Charles Brown, professor of economics and research professor of the Survey Research Center, emeritus at the University of Michigan, discusses his upbringing in Ohio, his academic studies at Boston College and Harvard, his work on labor economics, and his time as director of the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics (PSID). Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default...

William B. Gould IV, the Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law, emeritus at the Stanford University Law School, discusses his work on labor relations, his chairmanship at the National Labor Relations Board, and a remarkable great-grandfather who escaped slavery and joined the Union Navy in the Civil War. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2025-0...

Michael Moskow, the vice chair and distinguished fellow, global economy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, discusses his work on labor relations, collective bargaining, and his numerous posts in both the private and public sectors, including at the U.S. Labor Department, and the Council of Economic Advisers. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/f...

Gavin Wright, William Robertson Coe Professor of American Economic History, emeritus, at Stanford University, discusses his work on the economics of slavery, Black mobility patterns after the Civil War, and his thoughts on the current state of Black economies in the American South. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2025-04/039-TWGO-Wright_trans...

Heidi Hartmann, distinguished economist in residence at American University and emeritus founder and president of the Institute of Women’s Policy Research, discusses her work in the public policy arena, especially her studies on the gender gap and equal pay, and her on-going thoughts on women and the economics profession. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/de...

Michael Reich, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses his studies of labor market segmentation, the beneficial effects of the minimum wage on the economy, the current climate of political polarization, and his belief that the 2024 elections indicate a marked transition for the U.S. economy. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sit...

Harry Katz, the Jack Sheinkman Professor of Collective Bargaining at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, discusses his academic background, his studies of collective bargaining, his work with the United Auto Workers (UAW), and his ongoing thoughts on how to make labor negotiations more inclusive and cooperative. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princ...

Henry Farber, Hughes-Rogers Professor of Economics emeritus at Princeton University, discusses his early life growing up in an industrial, working-class town in New Jersey, his early interest in labor unions and his nearly fifty-year-long study of labor economics. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/2024-11/035-TWGO-Farber_transcript.pdf For more...

George Borjas, the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, discusses his early life in Cuba, his experiences as an immigrant in the United States, his schooling at Columbia University, and his thoughts on the current immigration debate in the United States. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/202...

Robert Moffitt, the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University, discusses his early education, his interest in labor economics, applied microeconometrics, and welfare policy, and how his work has influenced major debates in public policy, especially the economics of low-income populations in the United States. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princet...

Samuel Bowles, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts and Research Professor and Director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute, discusses his deep-rooted interest in economic inequality and how his work has challenged many of the conventional assumptions of modern economic theory. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.ed...

Marjorie McElroy, Professor of Economics at Duke University, joins the podcast to discuss her long and varied academic career, her research on the economics of marriage and the family, and, especially, the challenges and gender discrimination she faced as, at the time, one of the few female economists pursuing a traditionally male-dominated profession. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https:...

For the 30th episode of "The Work Goes On", we flipped the script and asked our long-time host Orley Ashenfelter, the Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics, Emeritus at Princeton University and former director of Princeton’s Industrial Relations Section (IR Section), to start answering questions instead of asking them. Janet Currie, the Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Aff...

Ernst Stromsdorfer, Emeritus Professor of Economics at Washington State University, joins the podcast to discuss his impressive body of research on the impact of labor market programs on different groups of people, and his wide-ranging career across academia, the private sector, and state and federal governments. Read a transcript of the podcast here: https://irs100.princeton.edu/sites/default/fil...